Ionization Yield in Silicon for eV-Scale Electron-Recoil Processes [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2004.10709


The development of single charge resolving, macroscopic silicon detectors has opened a window into rare processes at the O(eV) scale. In order to reconstruct the energy of a given event, or model the charge signal obtained for a given amount of energy absorbed by the electrons in a detector, an accurate charge yield model is needed. In this paper we review existing measurements of charge yield in Silicon, focusing in particular on the region below 1 keV. We highlight a calibration gap between 12-50 eV (referred to as the “UV-gap”) and employ a phenomenological model of impact ionization to explore the likely charge yield in this energy regime. Finally, we explore the impact of variations in this model on a test case, that of dark matter scattering off electrons, to illustrate the scientific impact of uncertainties in charge yield.

Read this paper on arXiv…

K. Ramanathan and N. Kurinksy
Thu, 23 Apr 20
12/45

Comments: 13 pages, 13 figures